Some of the many different "faces" of Iranians/Iranian Americans. These particular "faces" are some young Iranian American children from a summer camp that is discussed in an article below (please scroll down to see many more 'faces of Iran'!). (Image courtesy of http://www.iranalliances.org).

Dear All,

Greetings from the beautiful Turkish island of Buyuk Ada on the sea of Marmara where there are no cars and plenty of lively seagulls. The summer had been so busy that when I got to the island, I gave everything a break including the Windows. But I just can’t resist sending you at least one message from this very peaceful and lovely place where the last thing you would like to do is following the news. I must confess that it is refreshing not to have Iran in the headlines.

This will be a shorter window and I owe much of its content to Behrooz, Matt, Bahar, and Joy. Please forgive me if you have written and I have not responded yet, or if I am not acknowledging your contribution properly.

While I was here watching seagulls and a little piece that I wrote earlier called “Banishing the Ghosts of Iran,” appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education. I hope this link gets you to it if you like to read the piece:http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i45/45b00601.htm

Maurice Motamed (or, Morris Motamed), who is the only Jewish MP in the Iranian Parliment, called the offers of large cash rewards for Jewish immigration from Iran to Israel "insulting." The Jewish community in Iran is the largest in the Middle East outside of Israel and dates back to at least 700BCE.

As the news of the recent intensification of restrictions on women’s clothing – and demonstrations – get out of Iran, it is important to keep in mind that – despite these problems – Iranian women continue to maintain a lively presence in all spheres of life:

110 Iranian women bikers from 22 teams compete for national titles in Iran. I won’t make a slide show of this because it makes it harder on your computers. Just scroll down for pictures of the competitions (even if you can’t read the Persian captions):http://www.baztab.ir/news/70794.php